House of 1000 Cats
House of 1000 Cats was the winner of Pico Day 2008. It depicts several Newgrounds icons in a battle against the Kitty Krew. Plot Summary Prelude The film opens with a king of the Kitty Crew, perhaps Big Fuzzy Kitten, at a computer, surrounded by his Turd of the Week awards. He visits 2girls1cup.com. Meanwhile, at the Kitty Krew headquarters tower, a legion of Kitty Krew members are hard at work. Systematically, they create low quality animations, submit them to Newgrounds, and give them high ratings so they pass judgment. The Battle Begins It is at this point that we are introduced to the heroes of the animation, who are traveling to the tower via hot air balloon: P-Bot, who is using his arm as a torch to keep the balloon aloft, Pico, Nene, Darnell, Tom Fulp, and Pegasus the Penicorn. They are spotted by the Kitty Krew, who rush out of the building armed with a variety of weapons. One of them shoots a rocket at the balloon. However, the party is able to reach the ground safely by grabbing onto P-Bot as he flies down. As the party lands, they take a variety of fighting poses. The only exception is Tom Fulp, who lands on his face, much to Pico's dismay and the Kitty Krew's delight. At this point, the fight begins. Pico uses hand to hand combat, Nene uses a sword, Darnell uses twin guns, and P-Bot uses his laser. Together, they decimate the Kitty Krew. Transformation It is at this point, however, that Big Fuzzy Kitten transforms the building into a giant robot, complete with arms and rocket launchers. Although P-Bot destroys a few of them, its initial volley of rockets was enough to knock the party onto the ground. The robot then prepares to fire a laser at Pico, which would kill Newgrounds's mascot for once and for all. However, P-Bot sacrifices himself by pushing Pico out of the way. Enraged, Pico decides to attack the robot directly. He jumps over the next rocket attack, and uses its momentum to propel himself onto the top of the robot. Despite having injured his legs, he punches the top of the robot until he is able to rip out some of the wiring. This damages the robot, but also knocks Pico out. Dreams and Conclusions Meanwhile, Tom Fulp is having a dream about Justin Timberlake. Tom wants to hang out with Timberlake, but he tells Tom that he needs to wake up, save Pico, and fight for Newgrounds. After he wakes up, he hatches a plan with Pegasus the Penicorn. Pegasus flies up to the robot and delivers Pico to Tom Fulp's arms. It is at this point that Big Fuzzy Kitten remembers how he was first introduced to Flash. He was playing in an alleyway when he stumbled across somebody's computer, and made his first animation. He was interrupted by a human, who kicked him out and said "Flash isn't for cats." Years later, this still brings tears to his eyes. He fires one final round of heat seeking missiles at Pegasus, but is blasted by his own petard when Pegasus flies by the robot, causing them to explode into it. Epilogue The final scene shows Pico, Darnell, Nene, MindChamber, and Tom Fulp (with bandages on his face) wearing fine clothing. All of them look somber, and MindChamber is literally in tears. Pegasus has flowers in its mouth, and lays them down on P-Bot's gravestone. The credits roll. Presentation Compared to traditional Pico animations, the art style is fairly realistic. Even the members of the Kitty Krew, who are shown as cats, have human-like proportions. For the most part, the movie plays as a music video, and there is usually no dialogue. The only exceptions are Tom Fulp, who has a conversation with Justin Timberlake in his dream and talks to Pegasus immediately afterwords, and the stranger that Big Fuzzy Kitten met. Most of the film takes place in a barren, colored wasteland. During the dream and flashback sequences however, the scenes radically change. The dream takes place in an endless field of white, while the flashback is in monochrome, and takes place in an urban setting. Although several songs are used, the majority of the film uses "Castle of Tears" by NemesisTheory . Reception House of 1000 Cats was not a particularly popular movie, and two years after release, it still hasn't reached a quarter million views. However, the movie was a critical hit: it won the Daily and Weekly Second Awards, has an average review of 9.6/10, and was nominated for the 2008 Tank Awards. It is featured in the Flash Portal History and Pico Day collections. Tom Fulp called it "a perfect homage to NG's past and present."http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/901581 It is also, ironically, one of the Kitty Krew's favorite movies on Newgrounds.http://kittykrew.newgrounds.com/favorites/ View it here Category:Flash cartoons Category:Mascots Category:Comedy Movies Category:Music Videos Category:Pico